Guest asking for compensation due to mosquitoes

Yes. Many online articles about it for people who will visit the area.

Yes, but that’s in a message rather than the description. Now I’m realizing that’s a mistake and I should include it in the description as well.

Yes.

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This is exactly what I’m worried about.

I decided to give her some compensation since I’m partially at fault for not disclosing it in the listing but only in a message.

I have screens as well but some people leave the lanai door open to take in the warm air. And the problem starts.

I need to improve my instructions on mosquitoes.

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Please, don’t worry about something that was written on the internet three years ago. Policies change, customer service people change, so don’t be concerned about ‘vermin’. Mosquitos are not - they are simply a fact of life in many areas.

I (famously, here) had a guest who complained that the ocean wasn’t blue enough - like that’s my fault? Then there was the roadworks man. There was the client who caught a cockroach (sorry, palmetto bug) in a matchbox and presented me with it.

None of these things can be controlled by a host.

There are lots and lots of weird scenarios that can happen when you’re hosting but what’s important is the way you deal with them.

You can buy those things (the name of which I’ve forgotten) to make your door automatically close so that it isn’t left open. (I know, some wedge the door open with a chair but the thing on the door is a start).

Do you tell them not to leave the door open in the house tour? Is it mentioned in your house guide?

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You can get a custom decal from Etsy that says something like “Please keep door closed for mosquitoes.” Someone from another area of country might not be sensitive to the need to do so, or if children are permitted perhaps parents would look after them in this regard [?].

I’m grateful that you raised this topic as many of us might now want to say something in our listing if this pertains to us, and perhaps take other measures, like offering fragrance-free repellant (not with DEET but 20% picaridin), having cortisone cream on hand (I wonder if lawyers in the forum might have a thought on whether that might be inadvisable), planting citronella/Tulsi plants yellow bug lights, citronella candles, decals on keeping doors closed, doubling efforts to inspect screens/door fittings/sources of stagnant water, maybe even professional or DIY mosquito foggers, natural repellants like the garlic in hot water spray, window or bed nets depending on severity.

It seems to me that if a listing is situated in an area where is this especially an issue, and you disclose in in your listingt, that it shouldn’t hurt you because it would affect your competition as well, unless your location is somehow different, say deep in the woods, where it affects your listing but not others. If it somehow it is an issue unique to your location it is a drawback but likely there are compensating tradeoffs (deep in nature, remote, private, etc.).

My hunch is that there is lots you can do to reduce the problem (even if you cannot eliminate it), but maybe it’s unavoidable depending on your location. Also, if this tends to be a an issue just in certain months or after a tropical storm a la Annet3176’s comment, you can say that as it is accurate and just sounds better to me.

You’re thinking of door closers. Good idea. We had a problem that people left the patio door open and the wind blew it, breaking it. VRBO paid the claim, which was $2K. The only thing I overlooked was to get the kind of door closer that could be set to leave the door open, as we have screens behind it and the breeze can be nice.

By giving into what is basically extortion you’re encouraging this scammer to keep trying to get free stays on Airbnb.

I wonder if there is a list somewhere of places where you can get discounted stays by claiming there were bugs? Maybe your place is on it.

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Compensati0on for Mosquitos!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Tell this entitled guest to bugger off! Next thing you know she’ll want compensation because the air isn’t good enough! If shje doesn’t want to sleep with bug spray the problem is hers. Welcome to the wide world!

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IF @houseplants follows my suggestion then we’ll see just what the guest wants, which the guest will need to disclose on the platform. Maybe the guest will be satisfied with the remediation efforts that will hopefully solve the inside problem.

If the guest is unreasonable, then if @houseplants took my suggestion he would make a partial refund if insisted upon only for a day or so on condition that it is a complete and final resolution, and that if the guest is still uncomfortable (and after which the host works through remediation efforts to fix any mosquito issue) the host offers for the remaining stay to canceled without penalty. After all, if the situation is unbearable to the guest, why would the guest want to stay? Although maybe this approach is not reasonable if the guest has nowhere else to go. But let’s take it a step at a time.

To me the fair resolution turns on whether there really is a mosquito issue, how severe is it, is it somehow unique to the location so that a reasonable person could not have expected it and that it really should have been disclosed (not as a cover-your-ass thing but because it is a feature and a bug of the listing). [Ha ha] The Host will know those facts and by the guest’s actions/written responses on the platform will evaluate whether this guest is really a scammer or just . . . ‘sensitive’ and whether a third party like Airbnb is likely to reach the same conclusion as the Host.

The problem for the Host is that even if the guest is a scammer, if that is not apparent to Airbnb CS based on the written back/forth, the Host is concerned about a suspension that would be more costly than a scammer’s extortion.

The Host will inoculate himself against future extortion by taking the steps to edit the listing and perhaps other steps to reduce/prevent any mosquito issues.

So you might be right that it’s extortion, but it might be reasonable for the Host to pay it. I’m saying ‘might.’

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LOLOLOL. Pun intended I hope!

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Probably mine, when those FO big American cockroaches start crawling up the drains :rofl:

Domestic Spanish guests are fine, they get them at home so no biggie, but we’ve now got American and Canadian guests back for April and May. Should be interesting, especially with the ants!

:ant:

JF

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I’m at the Jersey Shore and in July we get green heads (horse flies). To help guests stay comfortable and bite free, I plant lavendar plants, have Avon Skin So Soft spray in the medicine chest, citronella and lavendar candles, screens on windows and yellowish light bulbs. It seems to help.

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This is recommended in so many countries. It’s one of the few products that combats Turkish mozzies, and as it’s not available locally, there is a thriving black market for it.

Maybe they should rebrand it!

JF

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It’s amazing how well it works.

After a few years here now I’m pretty much immune to the Spanish mozzies, but we still fire bleach down the patio drains just in case.

Both apartments have citronella candles and we always coach guests about keeping doors, windows etc closed at might. Don’t mention it in listing because mozzies are a simple fact in Andalucía during warm months.

Fortunately we’ve got a healthy gecko population, and they just love mozzies :lizard:

If a guest tried the “infested” card, they’d get short shrift. No long winded explanations etc, just a “what did you expect booking in Andalucía in whatever month

Eesch…

JF

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@muddy

Jeremy Wade (River Monsters) caught malaria while on a fishing expedition. He was fishing after dark plus while sleeping his mosquito net was against him & the critters bit him through the net. He was in a netted hammock.

https://fb.watch/bCbNnuMLHf/

Btw the reason the baby is featured on a mosquito awareness video is she is a Zika baby. Mom was infected from a mosquito bite while the baby was in early development. The baby developed with micro-encephalopathy (tiny brain). The part of the brain controlling autonomic functions develops but there is usually limited development of the rest.

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Alaska mosquitoes are notorious. During WWII, planes being ferried to Russia from Alaska (yes, we sold them planes then) would land at remote airports to refuel, and more than once overworked crews realized that they could quickly detect the mosquitoes because they didn’t have fuel codes painted near the fueling port. :slight_smile:

In Alaska, the shorter the season, the more intense they are. In the high Arctic Brooks range and North Slope, the swarms are so intense that caribou will submerge in lakes with only their noses above water to escape them.

A friend who was a front end loader operator during the pipeline construction had to get out of his air conditioned cab about every half hour to clean about a kilo of dead mosquitoes from his air intake filter. If he didn’t they would block the intake and kill the engine.

Alaska mosquitoes are so legendary that any claim about bites would be thrown out of court.

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I don’t. It just seemed plain obvious to me so I didn’t bother.

I try not to put too many instructions or disclaimers. I have hated that about Airbnbs when staying as a guest. I also don’t want to force the other 99% guests to read lengthy instructions because of rogue behavior from one guest. As I said, I don’t get many complaints about mosquitoes. Most people use common sense and don’t leave the screen door open, apply bug spray, wear loose long clothes to cover their skin in the evening.

It’s obvious to me too but I have been amazed over the years at the things that simply aren’t obvious to people. It makes sense I suppose because we’re all different, there are different cultures, different backgrounds, different upbringings… hosting can be a revelation.

I have only two rules on my listings, no smoking and no parties. I have no instructions or notes or laminated signs. I expect people to be civilised human beings and 99.9% of the time, they are.

Because you can usually suss people during the house tour, you can tell them then the things that are important for them to know.

If you (or your co-host) see anything going on, the simplest way to deal with it is face-to-face.

The only time I’ve bottled out of that is when a guest had a very annoying loud laugh. It was driving the neighbours nuts too but I told them that I refused to stop someone being happy. They understood. :slight_smile:

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100% agree.

I don’t give house tours. The guests collect the keys from the building security people. The studio is a small space without any unique features or quirks. So far most guests have managed without instructions so I haven’t felt the need for a house tour.

I’m on the fence about adding more instructions/guidelines/rules.

Yes, my Mexican guests understand when the electric goes out during a bit of rain and a gust of wind that it’s because of the shitty infrastructure in this country, not my fault. It’s exactly like that where they live, too.

A few years ago there was a propane shortage right at Christmas time. I have one cylinder for the hot water and another for the cooking stove, set up at different sides of the house. I also have a small bbq sized tank so if a cylinder runs out, I can switch it over until the gas guy delivers (who keeps telling me he’ll come that day for 3 days in a row until he finally shows up).

Well, that year, both my cylinders ran out at the same time, which had never happened before, but Murphy’s law dictates that would happen when half of Mexico was experiencing no available propane.

Luckily I had a Mexican guest at that point. Because what I had to do was keep switching the bbq tank back and forth whenever either of us wanted to shower or cook. So she had to tell me she’d like to take a shower or start cooking in half an hour. Didn’t fuss her at all- there was no propane available in Guadalajara, where she was from, either.